The Kiss

by Danielle Steel

Isabelle Forrester is the wife of a prominent Parisian banker who has long since shut her out of his heart. For years, Isabelle has lived a life of isolation, caring for her desperately ill son and her teenage daughter. She allows herself one secret pleasure: a long-distance friendship with a Washington power broker who, like Isabelle, is trapped in an empty marriage. To Bill Robinson, Isabelle is a godsend, a kindred spirit who touches him across the miles. Their relationship is a lifeline that sustains them both through the heartache of marriages they will not betray. Agreeing to meet for a few innocent days in London, Isabelle and Bill find their friendship changing. Then, amid the sudden crash of steel, they are thrust onto a new path fraught with pain but also with possibility.

Now, inside a London hospital, Isabelle and Bill cling to life. In the weeks that follow, they traverse a road to recovery littered with challenges of the body, spirit, and heart. Together, they must find the strength to embrace life again. But changing relationships and another loss conspire to separate them once more. And this time they could lose each other forever.

In a novel that is as compelling as it is compassionate, Danielle Steel weaves a story of courage in the face of unimaginable loss, exploring the strength it takes to conquer our greatest fears, showing us how the toughest choices can yield the most unexpected rewards ... and how the longest journeys can begin with a single kiss.

Genres: Romance, Fiction, Contemporary, Chick Lit, Drama, Audiobook, Love

448 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published May 2, 2001

About the author

Danielle Steel has been hailed as one of the world's bestselling authors, with almost a billion copies of her novels sold. Her many international bestsellers include All That Glitters, Royal, Daddy's Girls, The Wedding Dress, The Numbers Game, Moral Compass, Spy, and other highly acclaimed novels. She is also the author of His Bright Light, the story of her son Nick Traina's life and death; A Gift of Hope, a memoir of her work with the homeless; Expect a Miracle, a book of her favorite quotations for inspiration and comfort; Pure Joy, about the dogs she and her family have loved; and the children's books Pretty Minnie in Paris and Pretty Minnie in Hollywood.

Facebook.com/DanielleSteelOfficial
Instagram: @officialdaniellesteel

Reviews

[Mar · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5

It’s been a while since I read a Danielle steel book and ngl, I kinda forgot the way she loves adding drama to all of her novels, but Im not complaining at all since it can sometimes be VERY entertaining like in this one.

All the angst was soooo heart wrenching. The plot itself was nice as well, but idk, I’m not really a fan of the couples written by Steel, not sure why, I just hate her male characters for some reason. Glad I enjoyed it enough!

[Robin · Rating 1 out of 5]

My God, this was awful. I will never read another DS book in my life. She repeats everything like 50 times!! This book would have been 10 pages if she just wrote the damn story. Don't waste your time.

[Suz · Rating 3 out of 5]

I normally find myself sticking up for DS but not this time. She must have been having a bad year when she sat down to do this one, too much repetition, a rather self indulged character that was simply annoying, too long to get nowhere.. I tried hard but never once caught up with enjoying it. Never mind!

[Jennifer · Rating 1 out of 5]

How many chapters, sentences and paragraphs can Danielle Steel repeat? I felt like I was reading the same dribble throughout this entire book. I hated this book and the writing style even more than the story.

[Donna S · Rating 1 out of 5]

Not even a good beach read! I've never read such a whiny, repetitive tale with horrible dialog. I kept waiting for it to get better. Is this typical of D Steele?

[Beth Lucas · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is my favorite Danielle Steel book. Whenever I don't have anything new to read, I read this one again. Love It!

[Bahoz Miran · Rating 4 out of 5]

القبلة رواية رومانسية للكاتبة دانيال ستيل أحببت أسلوبها الراقي وطريقة سردها لروايتها ممتازة, أول رواية اقرأ لها ولن تكون الأخيرة تدور حول زوجة عاشت حياتها مقتصرة على عنايتها بابنها, على علاقة مع رجل في أمريكا قررا كلاهما تمضية اجازة لعدة أيام في لندن لكن حدث حادث مروع غير حياتهما الى الابد....

[Hajar Ibrahim · Rating 3 out of 5]

قرأتها قبل ٣ سنوات او اكثر مو قادره اتذكر اي شي منها غير حادث السياره اللي كان بسبب القبله .. اذا دل على شي دل على ان الروايه ممله ولا فيها اي احداث تشد ..

[Gabriela · Rating 4 out of 5]

The first book from Danielle Steel that I read and I must say I am looking forward to read more from her. It has a good story line, but I found myself getting a bit frustrated because it tends to repeat the exact same things over and over again. Apart from that, I loved both main characters and what happens to them is really unexpected, and also the friendship/love that they share is beautiful and I love the fact that they were there for eachother even if their lives were a complete disaster for so long.
I would have loved to see more of them together by the end of the book, but I did like it and I'd recomend it.

[Lisa · Rating 3 out of 5]

I haven't read a Danielle Steel book in ages. The fluffy romance is a quick easy read. I would have enjoyed it a bit more if Ms. Steel didn't treat her readers as though they were quite forgetful. There could have been about 100 less pages with all the repeated information about the characters.

The story itself was okay in terms of finding the love of a lifetime. I liked both characters in general, but there were no twists, no surprises and everyone is just so darn good looking its amazing!

For fluff...I enjoyed, but feel it could have been oh so much more.

[Eka Situmorang-Sir]

Oh Dear Lord, took me months to finish this book. The first chapter was soooo damn boring so I stopped reading it for a while. Just for I want to finish my 2013 reading challenge, I forced my self to read this.
Geeez, watta flat storyline, it repeated several things over and over again! What's interesting were just the last 5 chapter of the book, the twists are original. Apart from that prepare yourself for a boring book for almost 400 pages!

[Amber · Rating 1 out of 5]

The repetitiveness made this a painful read. I forced myself through. It was my first Danielle Steel book, and likely my last.

[Nicole · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved It. As Always Another Good Book by Danielle. 😍

[Ellen Best · Rating 1 out of 5]

Girl please get an editor this was so painful

[Cudeyo · Rating 1 out of 5]

Simplemente, decepcionante, muy decepcionante y aburrido.

No me esperaba mucho de este libro, sólo un libro romántico y entretenido, sin la obsesión por las escenas eróticas de otro libros de este género. Pero una cosa es eso, y otra es convertir un libro en un verdadero tostón "ñoño".

Isabelle es una señora francesa casada con un hijo enfermo a su cargo, que tiene una profunda amistad con un señor americano dedicado a la política. Se enamoran pero su amor es imposible. Y bla bla bla.

La historia se puede contar en menos de la mitad de páginas de las que tiene este libro, y si tiene tantas es porque repite las mismas explicaciones una y otra vez, por si no nos hemos enterado de que el niño está enfermo, el marido es insoportable, etc. Pero es que, para más inri, cada vez que repite una explicación cambia un aspecto de la misma, de forma que se contradicen entre sí.

Y además está descrito de tal forma que muchas veces te lleva a engaño sobre los protagonistas. Describe a Isabelle de tal forma que te piensas durante todo el libro que la señora tiene muchos más años de los que en realidad tiene. Se supone que tiene 40 años, y palabras textuales ¿dónde va ella con esa edad, quién la va a querer?. Y no hablemos de describir al hijo pequeño de forma que parece que está hablando de un bebé, cuando tiene 15 años.

Hacía años que no leía a esta autora, pero lo que recuerdo eran libros que sin maravillarme sí me gustaron y disfruté en su momento. No sé lo que ha pasado en este.

[Fernanda · Rating 5 out of 5]

Siento que le faltaron páginas a este libro, pero aun así me ha encantado. 😍. Si bien me gusta más la fantasía que la romántica pura, creo que todos necesitamos leer de vez en cuando algún libro de estás características.
Verdaderamente me ha sorprendió, Danielle Steel de verdad logró que en ciertos momentos quisiera lanzar el libro por la ventana, cuando un personaje tomaba alguna desición estúpida, o cuando un personaje era terriblemente odioso. Me hizo llorar y reír.
Creo que lo leí en el momento justo, quizás si lo hubiera leído más tarde o mucho antes, no me hubiera gustado tanto.
Puede que también haya influenciado, el hecho de que la edición que yo tengo de este libro es de segunda, tercera, cuarta mano. Lo compré en oferta en una feria y me costó muy barato, la edición está muy desgastada e incluso las hojas estaba pegadas a causa de la humedad, pero el hecho que este libro haya sido leído antes por otras personas le da otro toque. En definitiva agradezco que haya llegado a mis manos 😍🥰📚

[Sherif Ismail · Rating 3 out of 5]

طبعا انا مليش في الروايه الرومانسية ولا ليه في دانييل ستيل.. معرفش ايه الي خلاني أجرب أقرألها..بس عموما التجربة مكانتش سيئة.. بس طبعا فيها كم حشو و نحنحة زياده شويه لكن الميزة انها سهلة القراءة بدون تعقيدات وده بيعادل التطويل الزياده

[Sanela K. · Rating 3 out of 5]

Treća pročitana knjiga ove (2018.) godine je "Poljubac" od Danijele Stil ("The Kiss" by Danielle Steel), kao dio čitalačkog abecednog izazova u kojem sam dobila slovo "P". U knjizi je riječ o ljudima mojih godina: ona u četrdesetim, u nesretnom braku sa sebičnim čovjekom, sa kćerkom tinejdžerkom i bolesnim sinom kojeg njeguje, a on takođe u nesretnom braku, sa dvoje djece... I bili su godinama jedno drugom podrška i prijatelji, preko telefona... On na jednom kontinentu, ona na drugom... Između njih hiljade kilometara razdaljine, čitav okean, te nekoliko sati vremenske razlike. Kada se konačno nađu u Evropi i prvi put poljube, dožive strašnu saobraćajnu nesreću i onda slijedi mukotrpna borba za ozdravljenje... I za ljubav života... Je li život samo žrtvovanje bez radosti i tavorenje u braku koji je odavno samo formalna stvar, a oboje već godinama pate? Koliko možemo toga žrtvovati, da bismo i mi jednom osjetili sreću, ljubav, sve ono o čemu sanjamo...

[Booklover · Rating 5 out of 5]

Such a emotional read,kept me so intrigued it was hard to put it down,every page i was like what next what next,i was so involved in Bill-Isabelle's love journey

Isabelle Forrester and Bill Robinson live in different continents but carry on a friendship via the telephone and a few visits here and there for four years. Isabelle stays at home with her sick child Teddy and her hateful husband. Bill is in a loveless marriage and doesn't want to get divorced because he's afraid it will hurt his career. Isabelle and Bill decide to meet in London for a few days to spend some time together. While in London they share a passionate kiss while at practically the same moment their limousine is hit by a double-decker bus. Their lives are forever changed.

really cried on 2 scenarios

*After the accident when Bill comes to Isabelle's room and talks to her and Isabelle comes back

*When Isabelle's son dies,i was happy he was free of his suffering but at the same time Isabelle's pain brought tears to my eyes

Though many things were predictable but still i liked this one a lot

Good read
Recommend it

[Ellen · Rating 1 out of 5]

I'm glad that this was not the first Danielle Steel book I've ever read or it would certainly be my last. The writing was amateurish and so repetitive that I was able to skip huge sections of the book, especially in the first 3 agonizing chapters. The story is weak and goes nowhere and could have been written in under 100 pages. I get the impression the publisher needed a book ASAP so she took a short story, made a list of ten pre-written descriptive statements and just did a copy and paste from her list on every other page to get it done.

[Preethi Joseph · Rating 4 out of 5]

I could see that many people here were not happy with the style of writing and how things were repeated over and again. This was my first book by Danille Steel and I must admit that inspite of the style of writing I still really enjoyed reading this book. This was lying there with a pile of books totally forgotten and am glad that I picked it up atleast now. It was a beautiful love story and I really wanted the best for Isabelle and Bill . A lovely feel good story I wont regret reading !

[Brandy · Rating 2 out of 5]

This wasn't one of her beter one's. It was predictable and too long. It dragged on too long to get to the point. It's also hard to believe that characters can put up with someone like that and live like that.

[Vannessa Anderson · Rating 3 out of 5]

Two lonely people fall in love and because they are married, they stay in touch by telephone and meet for lunch a couple of times a year. A terrible accident tears them apart and a tragedy brings them together.
Joseph Siravo was the voice of the characters.

[Roop Kanwar · Rating 3 out of 5]

First Book That Introduced Me To Fiction

[• Dani • · Rating 2 out of 5]

Creo que queda claro que no me gustó para nada este libro.
Lo que más me molesta y en lo que gira el libro es una historia de amor en la que las dos partes le son infieles a sus matrimonios. El de Isabelle podría llegar a entenderlo, pero lo de Bill me parece una excusa patética. Que los dos se resguardan en que sus matrimonios son feos para ser infieles, me parece un muy mal mensaje.
Respecto a la forma de escritura, me pareció sumamente repetitiva. Se mencionaba minimamente 5 veces en un capítulo que sus matrimonios estaban mal, la opinión de los personajes acerca de un mismo tema y la pregunta de Bill de por qué Isabelle no dejaba a Gordon y listo. Sin repeticiones, el libro hubiera durado 100 páginas.
El final me pareció igual de malo. A partir de como la mitad del libro vemos desarrollando la opinión de Bill acerca de algo, y en un segundo cambia de opinión como si nada.
La parte del mensaje en que afirma que todos tienen el derecho de amar y ser amados me gustó, pero no me gustó como se llevó a cabo entre Bill e Isabelle.

[Shru NJ · Rating 3 out of 5]

http://blueladyindia.blogspot.in/2017...

While going through the aisles of a library, randomly picked up a Danielle Steel book The Kiss as I liked the title. But this book does not live up to the expectation. The story would have been over in maximum 100 pages but it is dragged through every page.

The story revolves around two couples Gordon and Isabelle and Cynthia and Bill who are extremely unhappy in their marriage. Isabelle and Bill get close to each other, they talk over phone and meet once in a while as they stay miles apart. They know their relation will never be anything more than friendship. They meet once and it leads to a very passionate kiss which changes their lives forever.

The story is very touching and you only crave for a happy ending.

[Tatiana · Rating 4 out of 5]

WOW me sorprendí.

El libro cuenta la historia de Isabelle y Bill, dos amigos que comparten la desdicha de vivir en matrimonios que no quieren pero un viaje y un beso cambia todo.
La verdad es que al cap 3, la autora mete una tragedia de esas que decís "como la remonta ahora?", pero mis aplausos a Danielle por saber hacerlo.
Es un libro bastante pasivo pero atrapante y de lectura ligera, ideal para los bloqueos.
Se nota una especie de evolución en los personajes, no es taanta porque son personas de 40 años y no se nota tanto la evolución como con un personaje de 20, pero igual se nota el proceso de sus sentimientos.

[nadja · Rating 3 out of 5]

Opisi su mi se svideli ali me je živciralo što je Stil iste stvari ponavljala po više puta kroz razgovore i razmišljanja likova. Ima zanimljivih delova kad knjigu bukvalno nisam mogla da ispustim iz ruku ali ima i delova (posebno pred kraj) koji su bili dosadni i predvidivi kao i sam rasplet koji je imao potencijala da bude m n o g o bolji, i da knjiga dobije 4(+) zvezdice (da je Izabela učinila nešto moćno i više hrabro).

[Eman · Rating 2 out of 5]

رواية رومانسيه بطابع درامي قصة امرأة فرنسيه في الاربعين تعيش زواج فاشل فلا توجد حياة مشتركه بينهم تقع في حب افلاطوني مع رجل امريكي وبعد ان يقع لهما حادث سيارة تتغير حياتهم قصة مكررة كتبت بأسلوب مسهب فيه الكثير من التكرار الممل الروايه جدا عاديه

[imabookmagnet · Rating 2 out of 5]

Well the saying is right… never judge a book by its cover! I was lured in by the Klimt on the cover but unless I missed it- my eyes never ones saw anything connected to Klimt at all haha.
Also- I feel like I spent 8 hours reading 2 hours worth of a story.
I shall now go back to not reading anymore DS books